Improvement in steam water-elevators



W'. BURDUN.

Steam Water-Elevators.

N0. 133,746, Patented Decl0,l872.

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UNITED' WILLIAM BURDON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM WATER-ELEVATORS.

Speciiicationfornxing part of Letters `Patent No. 133,746, dated December 10, 12572; antedated December 4,

To all whom it may concern: Y

Beit known' that I, WILLIAM BURDoN, of

. Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ofNe'w York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Raising and ForcingWater by the Condensation and Pressratus for raising and forcing water in which a vacuum is formed bythe condensation of steam alternately in two adjacent chambers, and water raised into the vacuum so formed expelled by the pressure of steam, which is subsequent` ly condensed to form vacuums for the repetition of the operation. The improvement, in connection with such an apparatus, consists of valves controlled by metal pipes or hollow rods arranged horizontally in the main chambers of the apparatus, and rigidly secured at one end and free at the other, for` opening and closing said valves by the expansion and contraction of the hollow rods consequent on their exposure to steam or water, in combination with pipes for conveying steampassing'said valves to operate the main steam-valve or valves of the apparatus.

The accompanying drawingrepresents a central vertical section of an apparatus constructed according to my invention.

A A are the main chambers of the apparatus. They may be arranged side by side, as represented, or in any other convenient relation to each other, and may be of any suitable form. They communicate with a suctionpipe, B, through valves O O, and are provided with discharge openin gs D D furnished with valves,'not shown in the drawing. The valvebox E is of cylindricalform, and is arranged horizontally over the chambers A A, with which it communicates through ports a a. F F are the valves, which consist of two pistons, se-v cured to the same stem, b, at such distance apart that when one covers its adjacent port the other piston uncovers its port. Between the valves the valvebox is connected with a steam-generator by a pipe, Gr, and in its ends beyond the valves are loose pistonsH H. In y' the lower portion of each chainberA, j ust above its discharge-opening D, thereis horizontally arranged a metal pipe or hollow rod, I; These are the expanding rods previously mentioned, and in order to give them greater length, for 'the purpose of producing greater motion, they are magie to project some distance beyond the chambers. The inner or adjacent ends f-these pipes are secured in a screw-nipple, J, arranged in the partition or wall intermediate to both chambers, and their outer ends are free, and furnished with puppet-valves c c. The projecting portions'oi' the rods I I are surrounded by tubes K K of much larger diameter, communicating with the chambers A A, and provided beyond the ends of said rods with seats for their valves c c communicatingthrough pipes L L with the ends of the valve-box. M M are condensing-pipes, leading each from the lower portion of one chamber tothe upper part of the other, and provided with checkvalvcs opening only toward their upper ends.

To start the apparatus, its chambers A A are first filled with water by any convenient means, and the expanding rods I l are, by contact of the water, contracted and their attached valves c c closed. The steam-valves are then shifted to admit steam to one of the chambers, which, for convenience in explanation, I will suppose to be the right; acting on the water therein, the latter is expelled by it, and when its level gets below the rod I in the chamber the steam expelling the water comes in contact with said rod, and, by heating it, expands it, and so opens its attached valve c and permits the escape of some of the steam up the pipe L to the valve-box, where, acting on the adjacent piston H, it throws it over against the adjacent valve F and shifts both, thereby shutting off the steam from the right chamber and admitting it to the left. A stream of y water owing from the pipe M, leading into the right chamber, now condensesl the steam therein, and by forming in the chamber a vacnum causes it to fill by atmospheric pressure.

, As soon as the water entering the chamber comes in contact with the rod I it cools the latter, and thereby contracts it and closes its valve c, shutting off communication between the chamber and the valve-box. 'Ihe steam admitted to the left chamber by the reversal of the Valves'A eXpels the water through the discharge-pipe, and when the level gets below the rod I the steam comes in contact with it, and by expanding it lopens its valve c and permits the escape of steam to the adjacent end of the valve-box, where it acts on the left' piston H, and throws it against the adjacent valve F and shifts both valves, and so shuts oft' the steam from the left chamber and admits it to the right. Water flowing into the left chamber from the pipe M leading thereto condenses the steam therein, and by forming a vacuum in the chamber causes it to lill by atmospheric pressure, and when the water comes in contact with the rod I the latter is contracted and made to close its valve, and so shut orf communication between its chamber and the valve-box. The steam admitted to the right chamber discharges it while the left is filling, and thus the operation is kept up, each chamber alternately fillin g and discharging simultaneously with the discharging and filling ot' the other.l

I do not confine myself to 'the particular .lower portions of the main chambers, and the pipes L L, whereby the escape of steam from the chambers is made to effect the shifting ot' the steam valve or valves, substantially as set forth.

WM. BURDON. Witnesses:

FRED. HAYNES, FERD. TUson. 

